MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Another tanker in the Black Sea has issued a distress signal near the port of Kavkaz, emergency response services told TASS.
"A tanker has sent out a distress signal. The details are being clarified," the agency source reported.
Later, Russia's Marine Rescue Service told TASS that the crew of the tanker was safe. The vessel's cargo tank was damaged, but the integrity of the hull was not compromised.
"The Volgoneft 109 vessel was moored in the waters of the port of Kavkaz. According to the information provided by the captain, the vessel's cargo tank was damaged. The hull itself was not breached - there is no leakage into the sea. The crew is safe," the service said.
Flanked by an emergency rescue vessel, the Mercury, the tanker moved to a safe place where it could anchor. The Mercury is nearby to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
On December 15, the Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 oil tankers were damaged in a storm. The Volgoneft 212’s bow was torn off, and the vessel ran aground. One of its 13 crew members was killed, and the others were evacuated. The deceased was a watch sailor, a 23-year-old native of Astrakhan. The investigative agencies have initiated two criminal cases. All 14 crew members of the Volgoneft 239 were evacuated later on December 16. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave orders on organizing rescue operations in the Kerch Strait. Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin established a working group to address the consequences of the incident.
The disaster resulted in a fuel oil leak into the Black Sea waters, the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport reported. Earlier, experts told TASS that the oil slick threatening aquatic and coastal ecosystems was drifting northward. After reaching the Kerch Strait, it began moving toward the coast of the Krasnodar Region. Later satellite images showed another group of oil slicks located to the southeast of the scene, not far from the Temryuksky district and the resort city of Anapa. On Tuesday, it was reported that oil products have contaminated over 30 kilometers of beaches in the Krasnodar Region. Security services and volunteers are working to collect the fuel oil. A municipal emergency regime has been declared in the Zaporozhsky, Novotamansky, Tamansky, and Sennoye rural settlements of the Temryuksky District, as well as in the village of Blagoveshchenskaya in Anapa, due to oil products reaching the coastline.